BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Epistemic risk and public health science - Mark Parascandola (Nati
 onal Institutes of Health\, USA)
DTSTART:20100422T153000Z
DTEND:20100422T170000Z
UID:TALK24208@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Alex Broadbent
DESCRIPTION:Throughout its history\, empirical scientists have taken a con
 servative approach towards epistemic risk\, minimizing inferences beyond o
 bservable data. However\, at the same time\, scientific research is conduc
 ted with the aim of advancing scientific knowledge and furthering its prac
 tical application in areas such as public health and medicine. Twentieth-c
 entury scientists and philosophers have developed methods for managing epi
 stemic risk and quantifying degrees of uncertainty and evidential support.
  In the biomedical and public health sciences\, these efforts have focused
  primarily on the use of the p value\, along with a threshold for statisti
 cal significance (P&lt\;0.05)\, and avoidance of Type I error. However\, e
 xcessive reliance on p values comes at a high cost. The p value threshold 
 avoids Type I error at the expense of Type II error. Moreover\, this imbal
 ance is counter to the aims of scientific research to increase knowledge a
 nd reduce uncertainty. Ultimately\, there is no rule for determining what 
 type or amount of epistemic risk is acceptable. Focusing on public health 
 science\, this paper will review the impact\, often surreptitious\, of ass
 umptions and values on epistemic risk taking.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 2\, History and Philosophy of Science\, Department o
 f
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR